A collection of recipes and stories, wine tastings and the occasional restaurant review.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Su-weet

The past 13 days have been a whirlwind of fun, relaxing, enjoyable vacation. This past weekend in particular was an extremely action packed visit to New Jersey and Manhattan. As with all trips to Manhattan there is good food. But not just in Manhattan. Let me draw your attention to a strip mall in Edgewater, New Jersey, along the Hudson River....

We were famished after running all over Manhattan that day, so we jumped right in with some appetizers.

These were the spring roll special. There is soy protein in there, some veg, some jicama and a nice tangy, slightly spicy dipping sauce. A bit or two was good enough for me, the texture of the rice paper wrapping was a little funky. And overall it tasted very grassy. How Green is Your Grass grassy. (inside joke, sorry, you don't get it! Jodie Foster does!)

Our other appetizer was Roti Bread with a Malaysian dipping sauce. The bread was intensely buttery...without butter. The sauce was amazing, was sipping it with my spoon after the bread was gone! Curry coconutty, warm, spicy, beautiful.

This was entree. A major first for me...!!! Orange zest infused crispy wheat seitan in a sweek smoky sauce accented by dried chili and prickly ash (?). Served with a cold sauted spinach (ick) and brown rice. If you've had Orange Chicken at any Chinese restaurant, that's what this is...but so much better. Amazing texture, great flavor and after eating the whole plate, was full, but didn't get that sick gross nasty bloated full feeling you get after a box of take-out. I would order this again!

Similiar to my entree, this is a sesame sauce version with crispy beet garnish. This was a milder version of my dish. I will say about both. Delish...but only when hot and crispy, the minute the crispy goes soggy, I don't want it!

Our friend Kara had this Roasted seitan on Chinese broccoli, pumpkin and roasted almonds. She loved it. I tried the pumpkin, but stayed away from the rest of it. It looked to squigy for me. And I don't like any broccolis.

I would go back. I would order the same things...I took a chance trying something new and really enjoyed it, but there are still things I'm not sure about there. The only bummer part of the place...it's BYOB only. So no drinks unless you plan in advance. Soda, tea and water.

2 comments:

This was a real surprise for me as well! I've had seitan before, but never enjoyed it. Yet at Su it was masterfully cooked. The service was impeccable and I wanted to eat twice as much as I could. Highly recommended!

This is one of my favorite restaurants. And, yes, apparently it's Dr. Oz's favorite restaurant to dine BUT that makes me feel even like those fab profiteroles must be healthy! AND I will say the bananas foster dessert there is very simple but also delicious!